Claimed that “Bucha is another fake” and “Ukraine as a state does not exist…” – prosecutors defended in the appeal a real punishment for the Lviv man
The prosecutors of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office defended in the appeals court the punishment for the Lviv man who was convicted for justifying, recognizing as legitimate, denying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and glorifying its participants (Part 1 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). He was given a new sentence – 2 years of imprisonment.
Prosecutors proved in court that the convict actively expressed support for the country of the aggressor during phone conversations with a friend. In particular, he recognized the legitimate armed aggression against Ukraine launched in 2014 and justified the actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the man maintained an outright anti-state, anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian position. During another conversation in Russian, he claimed that “Bucha is as fake as everything else”, and in the court session he said that “Ukraine does not exist as a state, there is no Ukrainian nation, and that he loves Putin.”
The verdict of the court of first instance found the accused guilty and sentenced him to 6 months in prison.
However, the prosecutor disagreed with the verdict and filed an appeal. Because he believed that the imposed punishment was too lenient and asked for a more severe punishment to be imposed, which would correspond to the severity of the crime committed.
After hearing the arguments of the parties, the appellate court supported the position of the prosecutor’s office. In his decision, he annulled the verdict of the court of first instance and adopted a new one, by which he imposed a real measure of punishment on the convicted person – 2 years of imprisonment.
The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings was carried out by investigators of the SBU Office in the Lviv region.
Department of Information Policy
Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office